credit card on low income -help please

madrhino

I am posting this on behalf of a friend.

This is the third time I've tried posting this. My posts haven't gone through or mysteriously deleted themselves......grrr.

My friend wants a credit card. She is in her mid thirties, never had a credit card or any loans, she has a debit card and bank accounts. She has shopped with Littlewoods and Empire catalogues for years and always paid on time. She is on income support of approx. £90 a week.

She doesn't want a credit card to spend money she can't afford. She wants it just for the things that you need to book/buy with a credit card (she missed out on booking a £1 Hoxton Hotel room because of this), and will not accrue any debt on it, everything will be paid off on time. So huge APR is not a problem.

She has unfortunately applied for and been rejected by 3 credit cards in the past week :rolleyes:, HSBC, Halifax and Debenhams. I have told her that it can look bad on your credit record to apply and get turned down.

So now I need the advice of the wonderful MSEers as to what credit card she could apply for. I have had a quick glance at pre paid card, but I think that you have to pay for them.

Any help much appreciated

cifpower

Could she try her bank? They have history of her financial affairs. As she has a low income she may only be eligible for accounts like Vanquis - they have a high APR (30% or 40%) so it is advisable to pay in full every month to escape the interest charges - to get this card you do not have to be employed.

madrhino

She has accounts with HSBC and Halifax, who rejected her.

cifpower

Then for a CC she may have to apply for a Vanquis-like card

madrhino

I'll tell her to look at Vanquis as she intend to hardly ever use it and when she does she will pay it off. Will it matter that she has bee recently rejected for ccards

cifpower

No it won't. I am on Incapacity Benefit and Income Support and I was accepted for it after many rejections.

Ivydene

Get her to ask her bank branch to see if they can find out why she was rejected and see if the branch will support her appeal

gomer

Littlewoods personal finance do credit cards & they were the first ones to accept me. I also ran a catalogue with them successfully for several years which helped a great deal because they already knew i had a good payment history.

PARIS_5000

Vanquis ,capital one and Aqua are her only options but pay in full because the APR is high

Good luck

Innocent_Guy

PARIS_5000 wrote: »

Vanquis ,capital one and Aqua are her only options but pay in full because the APR is high

Good luck

Vanquis will be your best bet as has the lowest criteria

katie1

Aqua and Capital One excepted me on low income , not Vanquis altho i keep getting emails saying i have been approved very anoying....